Some personal electronic devices such as, for example, personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones include authentication processes to help ensure that only authorized users can operate the device. This feature is often used to prevent others from accessing confidential information available through the device and/or accumulating service charges for using the device (e.g., cell phones).
Some conventional authentication processes include (a) multi-step login processes, (b) biometrics units that can determine whether the user is authorized by sensing a physical feature of the user, and (c) security devices (e.g., encryption ring) that are physically carried by the user to “unlock” the personal computing device.
Currently, the multi-step login process is widely used. Typically, the multi-step login process begins when the device is powered on or reset. The device then prompts the user to enter a login name and password via a user interface (e.g., keyboard or keypad) before allowing the user to otherwise operate the device. Generally, the login name and the password must each include several characters. Using the user interface, the user then enters the several characters of the user's login name, and then enters the several characters of the password. This process typically takes a relatively long time since the user must enter each character for the login name, move the cursor to another field for the password and then enter each character of the password. The device must then process the login name and password to determine if the user is an authorized user. If the user is an authorized user, the device then starts an operating session in which the user can operate the device in the normal manner.
An additional security feature of the multi-step login process is that the operating session will be terminated if the user does not operate the device for an extended period of time (sometimes referred to as an idle timeout). Once this occurs, in the conventional system, the user must then repeat the entire authorization period. As will be appreciated by many users, this process can be undesirable because the delay disrupts the user's train of thought and may even cause the device to enter a default “start-up” mode, leaving the state the device was in when the idle timeout occurred. Thus, it is desirable to implement a system in which a user can quickly and easily continue an operating session after an idle timeout.